The United Nations refugee agency today said an estimated 25,000 people have fled escalating violence over the last six months in eastern Syria, where jihadists are defending their last bastions.

The agency said that clashes and air strikes have forced 25,000 people to seek shelter in camps or informal settlements, sometimes after spending several nights in the desert exposed to harsh weather and without access to food or water.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are currently flushing out the very last pockets of land controlled by the jihadists in the Euphrates River valley.